I just checked my Listerine bottle, by the way. It warns not to drink it, and if you do accidently, you need medical attention. Either they've changed the formula after all these years or the information about Tommy drinking Listerine was wrong. I know the Extract Of Vanilla part was right, though. Tommy had the sweetest smelling breath of any alcoholic I've ever met.

As long as you asked, Ebbie, our house was three blocks from open country built on the long-ago site of the City Dump. We had fifty foot Elm trees lining the street when I was a kid, so that was a long time ago. My parents moved into a retirement complex in the 90's and sold the house to one of my nephews. He no longer owns it, but it's been kept up nicely, and I often spin by it when we're out visiting my family.

The ladder in the trap door was way cool when I was a little older. We'd play hide and go seek in the house, and most of the kids didn't know about the trap door. I'd slip through the trap door, down the ladder and into the coal bin. I could have read War and Peace before anyone discovered me.

Jerry